The ZENTX Experience: An Interview with ZENTX’s Mike Wenz and Sarah Kue

Over the last several weeks, you’ve had the opportunity to hear from some ZENTX customers here on our blog. You’ve gotten a glimpse of what “The ZENTX Experience” looks like from the customer’s end, and you’ve heard some feedback about what it’s like working with us. But the perspective that they shared is only half of the story. In our next couple posts, we’ll be featuring interviews that give you a glimpse of another side of the ZENTX experience.

Recently, sales rep Sheena Lovitos Wildenhaus sat down with ZENTX President, Mark Wenz, and with ZENTX Graphics Specialist Sarah Kue to talk about this behind-the-scenes element of our projects. This week, we’re featuring selections from their conversations. Both Mike and Sarah were involved with our recent projects for Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth and, in these interviews, they share some of the processes that they went through to get these projects rolling.

You can hear snippets of their interviews in this video from our YouTube channel. But keep scrolling to read more highlights and to get a taste of the ZENTX side of “The ZENTX Experience.”

Mike, describe your overall experience with Al Zehnder.

I think our overall experience with Al and Zehnder’s in general is I was impressed with how organized they were. I know that the first time that we met with him and he brought out the whole array of postcards and every postcard through the history was labeled and packaged well and stuff. And that’s when I knew that, okay, these folks are organized and it’s probably going to go pretty well.

Mike Wenz, ZENTX President

What are the two projects that you did with Zehnder’s recently?

Mike: The first project that we worked on was the history timeline wall. This was a project they had constructed years ago but after time the adhesive started giving way on the photos and whatnot. So they called a company like ours to help them figure out a solution to fix all of their sagging photos. We went and evaluated and came out with a solution and then did a different technique this time around that will hopefully withstand the test of time. And then as we were working on that project, they had another project in the bar area that they wanted to do. And, going back to all of those postcards and whatnot, we came up with a design solution that I think worked well and that gave the space a new vibrant area without overdoing it. There’s some history in Zehnder’s that you gotta be mindful of that we don’t want to go too far overboard with design aspects but make it flow with the space.

As a designer, Sarah, what do you consider when you start off with a new project?

Well, anytime I start a new project, I always think about the environment and the feel of the place, and I like to make things that complement the space.

Tell me about the taproom wall project with Zehnder’s.

Sarah Kue

Sarah: The client’s main objective was to showcase their vintage postcards that they’ve collected over the years. And so, with that in mind, I really tried to capture their historic feel. I aimed to design something that would preserve the historic experience that Zehnder’s embodies [and,] at the same time, make it fresh and modern. We accomplished this by including lightweight dimensional graphics that seemed to kind of float and overlap one another. Also we included a subtle monotone background designed to introduce color to the space to really brighten it up. And we utilized lighting to properly illuminate and bring focus to the display wall.

What is the strength of ZENTX?

Mike: I think the strength of our company, one, we’ve been around for quite a few years now, so different techniques and being able to problem solve, which, in order to do that, you need to have a good team of people. Which I think we do. We have some industry experts, so when we bring a project like this back to our shop and go over all of the things that are wrong with it, we always hear “what about this, what about that? Have we tried this? Have we tried that? So it’s the strength of our people and we have all of the talent and services under one roof to make it all happen.

Describe what is unique about the ZENTX experience.

Mike: Probably one of the unique things that we offer that is hard to find is that you get it from the sales service and then right through to the design—we have designers in-house—to the graphics production to the fabrication production. I think it’s one of our unique advantages [that] you can come to one place and get it all done.